Lavatory attachment



NOV. 24, 1953 I PAULUS 2,659,901

LAvAToRy ATTACHMENT Original Filed Feb. 18, 1948 INVENTQR.

Patented Nov. 24, 1953 TUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LAVATORY ATTACHMENT Henry G. Paulus, Burlington, Vt.

Original application February 18, 1948, Serial No. 77,191. Divided and this application June 20, 1950, Serial No. 169,272

2 Claims.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a braking means to decrease the impact resulting from careless or accidental dropping Of a toilet seat cover from its open position.

Still another purpose of my invention is to provide a means which may be attached to a baby toilet seat adapter whereby it is impossible for the seat and its folded arms and back rests to be raised by small children.

A further object of my present invention is to produce a movement retarding device which is simple and economical to manufacture and which may be readily attached and removed from a conventional toilet fixture already installed and without the necessity of structural alteration of Similar reference characters in the several figures represent similar parts.

It is a common occurrence in household lavatories for small children to throw various articles into the toilet bowl. These uncontrollable acts by children too young to understand frequently result in the water discharge line being obstructed or stopped up causing inconvenience and damage due to overflowing water. n the other hand, valuable or irreplaceable objects thrown into the toilet bowl by children are often damaged by the water or completely lost down the discharge pipe.

Various latches and locking means heretofore presented in answer to this problem have proven unfeasible due to the inconvenience in their operation and a tendency to sometimes forget to operate the mechanism in a prescribed manner.

The modification of the invention as shown in my above mentioned copending application is one of various possible adaptations of the principle involved and relates to an automatic retainer which is a completely independent unit from the standard hardware fittings used to hingedly connect the seat and cover to a toilet bowl.

In Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing I have shown a form of my device modified to enable its use in retaining a conventional toilet seat adapter used in the training of small children.

The childs seat is made of substantially the same size and shape as the opening in the regular seat l3 of the toilet bowl. The seat 50 is provided with collapsible arms SI and 52 and a collapsible back rest 53, corresponding in size and shape to the opening in seat 50. The arms 5| and 52 are respectively hinged to the seat at 54 and 55 and the back rest is connected at the rear of the seat by a hinge 56. The back rest and arm members are in turn hingedly joined at 51 and 58 so that when either arm is raised the other arm and the back rest will automatically follow. Likewise, when the back rest is closed to act as a cover for the childs seat opening, the arm members will automatically collapse.

At the rear of the childsseat 50 I have shown a plate 59 of spring steel secured to its upper surface of the seat by a pair of screws 60 and having at each end of its forward edge a vertical finger 6| which acts as a spring clamp to hold its proximate arm member when in the collapsed position, as shown in Fig. 2. Due to the cooperating movement of the arms 5! and 52, if desired the clamp means may consist of a single vertical spring to hold either of the arms or two separate spring clamps can be used without the connecting base portion 59 shown in Fig. 1.

The childs seat is supported within the opening in the main'seat l3 by lateral supporting wings 62 and a rearwardly extending pivot arm '63. The pivot arm 63 is composed of two plates 64 and 65 connected by an expansible lap joint, as best seen in Fig. 1. This expansible joint allows adjustment of the childs seat to meet dififerent structural dimensions found in various makes of lavatory fixtures.

The free end of the plate 65 is formed with a curled flange 66 having a concave upper surface to embrace a portion of the pivot shaft [2' on the toilet bowl. Cooperating with the flange 66 to pivotally attach the childs seat to the shaft I2, I have shown a clamping plate 6'! having a fiat portion connected to the plate 66 by a pair of screws 68. The center section of the clamping plate 6! has an arcuate bend for embracing the upper peripheral surface of the shaft 12' and thus pivotally secure the seat. The free end 69 of the clamping plate 61 is curled as shown Fig. 2

and provides a movable projecting finger. Since this finger is integral with the plate 61, the curved end follows an arcuate path about the axis of the pivot shaft 12' when the seat 50 is raised and lowered.

The housing assembly remains stationary during the operation of the device and is supported at its forward end by the horizontal shaft 12' over which the hook ll passes. The housing is provided with an additional rest bearing against the bowl shelf A in the form of an adjustable screw 72 which penetrates the bottom 13 of the housing. This adjustable feature of the rear bearing point allows the device to be adapted to the various makes of toilet bowls now in use.

The interior of housing 10 contains a small support bracket 74 which has side walls, each having an outwardly extending support. .fiange 15. Connecting the rear edges of the side walls Je a vertical end wall which has a forwardly projecting arcuate lip 16 at the upper end there of. This end wall and lip afiord a bearing surface for the support of a cantilever spring member 17. A bent portion of the spring embraces the outer surface of the lip and end wall of the support bracket 14 and is anchored thereto by a bent tip 18 which passes through a transverse slot at the base of the end wall. The free end 19 of the cantilever spring is curved as shown in Fig. 2 in order to cooperate with the curved end 69 of clamping plate 6! and thus allow this opposing element to ultimately pass with the continued movement of the retaining arm. The

stiff wide spring 17 offers considerable resistance to the raising of the seat 50 due to its initial opposition to movement of the projecting finger :69. From Fig. 2 it will be apparent that continued raising of the seat will finally cause the spring T! to slip past the arm projection at which 1 point the seat may be freely raised to its normal open position.

The return movement of the projecting finger causes the spring (1 to pivot about the anchor point where the bent tip 18 passes through the transverse slot. Resistance to this pivotal move- .ment is provided by a U-spring 80 placed between the vertical section of spring ll and the rear wall of the housing and connected at its ends thereto. The degree of resistance to the pivotal movement of spring Tl may be predetermined by the rigidity of the spring 80 selected for a given toilet fixture, or a shim may be inserted between the spring 80 and the wall to increase the spring tension if so desired. When the seat is almost closed, the spring 11 slips by the lateral projection 69 on the retaining arm thereby releasing the seat and returns to its normal position on its supporting bracket 14.

In reality I have provided a double check retaining means in a single device for use with a child's toilet seat adapter, one retarding the lifting of the seat and the other retarding the uncovering of the seat opening by raising the collapsed arm and back rests. When it is desired to raise the folded elements of the device it is merely necessary for the adult to hold the baby seat down with one hand while forcing the arms past the clamp springs 61 with the other hand,

From the foregoing description of my present invention it will be seen that I have devised a simple structure which is readily adaptable to the various types of toilet bowls now installed in lavatories, and which will retard the opening movement of the toilet seat or cover to such a degree as to make it impossible for small children to raise the cover. This is effective to prevent the clogging of the plumbing system or the loss of valuable articles due to the impulsive habit of small children of throwing objects into the lavatory bowl.

While a preferred form of the invention has been drawn and described, it will be understood that variation in details of form may be made without departure from the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

, 1. In combination with a childs toilet seat adapter having collapsible arm and back rests, a hinge forming the sole means for connecting said adapter to a bearing shaft of a toilet bowl, an arm on the hinge projecting rearwardly beyond the shaft, said arm, hinge and adapter being together rotatable about said shaft, a stationary housing and a spring mounted therein, said spring extending into the path of movement of said arm during rotation of said hinge, and cooperating with said projecting arm to yieldingly resist movement of the seat adapter when the latter is opened, and a second-spring mounted in said housing and cooperating with the firstmentioned spring to yieldingly resist closing movement of the seat adapter.

2, In combination with a childs toilet seat adapter having collapsible arm, back rests and a spring clamp carried by the seat adapter to retain said rests in a collapsed position, an adjustable hinge arm secured to the seat adapter and having a bifurcated clamp means to pivotally connect said adapter to the bearing shaft of the toilet bowl, said bifurcated clamp having an arm projecting rearwardly past said shaft, said arm, hinge and adapter being together rotatable about said shaft, a stationary housing and a spring thereon, said spring extending into the path of movement of said arm during rotation of said hinge, and cooperating with said arm to yieldingl resist opening movement of the seat adapter, and a second spring mounted in said housing and cooperating with the first mentioned spring to yieldingly resist closing movement of said seat adapter. 

